China News Service, Beijing, August 17 (Mei Yunqiu and Pang Wuji) Since the flood season this year, many places have suffered floods. Henan, as a major grain producing province in China, has also been hit by heavy rains.
Will food prices rise sharply as a result?
China's National Development and Reform Commission spokesperson Meng Wei responded on the 17th that food prices will not rise sharply due to the heavy rain disaster.
Meng Wei pointed out that the data show that more than 16 million acres of crops have been affected in Henan Province, and overall, the impact on national food production is limited.
In recent years, China’s grain has been harvested year after year, the country’s grain reserves are abundant, the ability to purchase, store, and transport has increased. The grain production, supply, storage and sales system has become increasingly complete. The market supply is guaranteed, and grain prices will not rise sharply due to the storm.
Meng Wei revealed that the supply of grain, oil and meat and other agricultural and sideline foods in the disaster-stricken areas in Henan were sufficient and the prices were stable. In some areas, the prices of fresh vegetables, especially leafy vegetables, that were not easy to store and transport rose slightly, but the increase was within the normal fluctuation range.
Another factor affecting food prices is the prices of agricultural products such as fertilizers.
Since the beginning of this year, due to factors such as rising production costs, price transmission in the international market, and low social inventories, domestic fertilizer prices have risen.
Meng Wei pointed out that the National Development and Reform Commission has adopted a series of control measures to ensure the basic stability of domestic fertilizer supply and prices.
First, during the spring ploughing period, some national chemical fertilizers were put into commercial reserves for three consecutive months. During this period, the price increase of nitrogen fertilizer, phosphate fertilizer and compound fertilizer in the country has obviously narrowed, and the price of some major grain-growing provinces has dropped significantly in some months.
The second is to promote the implementation of a one-off subsidy of 20 billion yuan (RMB) for actual grain farmers as soon as possible to alleviate the impact of the increase in grain growing expenditure caused by the increase in the cost of agricultural materials.
The third is to interview and remind key fertilizer companies to actively fulfill their social responsibilities and operate in an orderly manner in accordance with laws and regulations; cooperate with relevant departments to strengthen fertilizer market supervision, and file investigations on fertilizer companies suspected of raising prices to maintain the order of the fertilizer market.
The fourth is to encourage relevant industry associations to issue initiatives, calling on companies to increase production and supply and stabilize market prices.
According to monitoring, the recent price increase of some chemical fertilizers has slowed down significantly, and relevant policies and measures have had positive effects.
(Finish)